Department of General Surgery

About us

In 1998, June 12 two departments of the Kaunas Academy of Medicine, the Second Clinic of Surgery and the Department of General Surgery were merged and the Clinic of General Surgery was established. The Second Clinical Hospital of Kaunas (now:KaunasClinicalHospital) was chosen as the main base for the clinic. Since 1998 head of the Clinic is professor D. Venskutonis.

History of the Second Clinic of Surgery reaches 1920. One of its founders and the first surgical discipline teachers was Juozas Žemgulys. In 1922 it became the Surgical Clinic and Department and its first head was professor H. Boitas till 1926.04.15. From 1926 to 1939 the Surgical Clinic and Department was led by professor A. Hagentornas. In 1939 the Surgical Clinic and Department was reorganized and two separate departments were created: Department of Faculty Surgery at the Red Cross hospital (head of the department professor V. Kanauka) and Department of Hospital Surgery at Kaunas Clinics (head of the department professor V. Kuzma). Department of Faculty Surgery was transferred to Kaunas Clinics in 1945 (head of the department assoc. professor J.Jaržemskas), from 1961 to 1971 the head of the Department was assoc. professor J. Karaliūnas. In 1971 Department of faculty surgery was transferred to the second clinicalhospitalofKaunas, the current location of the Clinic. From 1971 to 1974 head of the department was assoc. professor J. Platūkis. From 1974 to 1998 the department was led by professor V. Zykas. In 1982 the Department of Faculty Surgery was renamed to the Second Department of Surgery and in 1992 it became the Second Clinic of Surgery.

Department of General Surgery originates in 1922 as the Department of Introduction to Surgery and Operative Surgery. The first head of the Department was professor J. Dzirnė. In the same year 1922 it was joined to the Surgical Clinic and Department. A separate Department of General Surgery was established in 1945 at the Red Cross hospital. The first head of the Department was professor T. Šiurkus. The Department was transferred to the third ClinicalhospitalofKaunasin 1970. From 1974 to 1986 the head of the Department was assoc. professor V. Vaškelis, from 1986 to 1993 – professor A. Purtokas, from 1993 to 1994 – professor J. Pundzius and from 1994 to 1998 it was again led by professor A. Purtokas.

Clinical basis of the Clinic is Department of Surgery with 45 beds which is divided into sectors of abdominal surgery, coloproctology, vascular surgery, as well as surgical infections. We have 11 abdominal, 6 general, 2 vascular surgeons, 1 coloproctologist and 2 interventional radiologists. Elective as well as emergency abdominal surgical, coloproctological and vascular procedures are performed by our staff including reconstruction of the colon, laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures. Patients from all over Lithuania receive treatment in the Department while majority of our patients come from Kaunas city and district. Annually, more than 2,000 patients are treated, about 2000 surgical procedures are performed in the Department.

Clinic of General Surgery cooperates with the United States Wayne State University School of Medicine (Detroit), university surgical clinics of Graz (Austria), Ghent (Belgium), Copenhagen (Denmark), Malmö and Lund (Sweden), Szeged (Hungary), Frankfurt and Heidelberg (Germany) as well as Polish (Krakow, Bialystok, Bydgoszcz) medical academies surgical clinics, Boeblingen regional hospital (Germany), the Polish Society of parenteral and enteral nutrition. Majority of the clinic staff are members of German society of surgery, European society of surgery, European Digestive surgery and other societies. Our staff members continuously develop their skills in these and other foreign as well as Lithuanian institutions.

Next to the clinical work our staff is involved in a research work. Students of theLithuanianUniversityof Health sciences carry out their researches at our Clinic.

Studies

Medical Faculty students are taught the essentials of general surgery, students of the Faculty of Dentistry follow the course of surgical diseases, students of the Faculty of Nursing study surgical nursing. The course of First aid is taught for the students from the faculties of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Public Health. Since the implementation of the problem based learning the discipline of essentials of General Surgery was distributed over five modules of the first and second years while the main part of the course is taught in the module of Professional Competence. PhD students and residents can find relevant study programs in the field of general surgery during their postgraduate studies. The Clinic organizes training courses in laparoscopic surgery, enteral nutrition, abdominal emergencies and hernia surgery. Clinic provides the base for internship and the residentship of Surgery. Each year the students choose optional subjects at our Clinic.

Research

Research topic: features of an acute surgical aggression and its preventon in elderly patients (clinical and morphological studies).